Egerton, Odey, DE Shaw, JP Morgan bet on Peugeot’s downfall

Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque Geneva:
PSA Peugeot Citroen, a large French carmaker, saw its shares drop by 54 cents, or 7.7%, to Eur6.48 in Paris trading late last week, according to Bloomberg. The stock had plummeted 76% in the last year, valuing the firm at Eur2.3bn ($2.8bn), the report said. Furthermore, Moody’s, a rating agency, placed Peugeot on review after the carmaker announced it would close one of its factories and cut 14,000 jobs. The French government said it does not accept the plan as it is. Delegates are meeting ministers. No decision of governmental support has been decided yet.

Boursier.com, a French newswire, reported on Monday that British hedge funds Egerton Capital and Odey Asset Management had interest in the carmaker’s stock. Egerton had a short position of 0.68% of Peugeot's capital as of 12th July; and Odey was credited a net short position of 1.91% on June 25th.

According to details published by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), the French financial supervisor, Egerton increased its position to 0.81% on July 16th, Boursier.com further ......................